An Ode to Solitude

The following excerpt comes directly from my journal, written during a recent morning spent at a nearby campground. With the long-anticipated arrival of autumn, I wanted to share my thoughts and emotions from that moment with you.

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The crisp, fall air is refreshing to my lungs and spirit alike, with the sounds of a few lone birds serenading the woods around them and the wonderful chirping of insects in the forest beyond.

This valley, tucked away between two mountain peaks, seems to be one of the few places where the leaves on the trees retain their color and pose for a good long moment, to dress the nearby foliage in those familiar and comforting hues of red and orange, before falling daintily to the ground. In other areas of central Virginia, the trees seem to shed their extra weight before the temperatures even dip, a sad outlook for those trees indeed. Unlike the hustle and bustle of the latter trees' environment, the former valley remains undisturbed, the ripples of the wind nearly nonexistent among the leaves and the calm waters of the lake, only interrupted by the occasional largemouth bass or northern pike fish surfacing to feed.

As I peer out onto the lake, I do not see any of the many turtles that also inhabit this ecosystem; they must not be ready to face the still-rising sun just yet. "Five more minutes", they say. Well, many five more minutes they shall get; after all, it is the glorious weekend, and I'm sure that my shelled, reptilian friends need a Sabbath as any man ought to need. At Camp Hydaway, all of God's creation seems to breathe a sigh of relief as the long week concludes and a new one is about to start again. 

Praise the Father for the quiet moments in times of chaos, the long deep breath before the plunge, the eye in the middle of the storm. This is where training is held, discipline is instilled, and battle plans are mapped out before the first shot is fired and the fight begins. Peace of mind can be found nowhere as strongly as here, and it is here, in solitude, that the war is won.

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-JDH